Cupola gas conditioning apparatus and process



Sept. 4, 1956 T. TINKER CUPOLA GAS CONDITIONING APPARATUS AND PROCESS Filed March 27, 1953 mm m 4220 ATTORNEY melting. cupol'as to condition the 1 and distinctly claimed.

United States Patent Town se" ndi Tinker; Orchard rant; N.- Y., assign, liy

mesne assignments,

Sanitary Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation ofDelaware a I Appn'aasba 27; this, sehhNa. 345.112

8 Claims. c1; 266 17) This in'vje no that s't'o seaatt in-insan in iron melting .c'upo'las "amine. particularly reappe rs s to American Radiator & Standard and processe's'for conditioning the ases discharged from a cupola; ,4 V Y a. c

It' has been found desirable in the operation of iron gases discharged from cupolas' totreniove foreign matter threfromfand to burn out the excess CO in thegases' andlutiliie erate'd thereby for heating incoming blast; It is therefore one of the objects of this invention to provide, a new and improved apparatus for conditioning and recovering heat from cupola exhaust: gases.

theheat geng.

. Another object of this invention is to provide a newfand improved apparatus for conditioning. cupola exhaust gases and disposing of foreign matter separatedtherefrom Another object 'is to provide a new and improved apparatus for conditioning-cupola exhaustgases, burning-out the'excess :00 therein, limiting the temperature ofcorn; bustion products, and reclaiming waste heat for-heating blast air-for the cupola. V M T Anotherobject is to .provide anew and improved process for conditioningand recovering waste energy from cupolaexhaust gases p p Other objects will become apparentfrom time to time throughout the specification and claims as hereinafter related. ,l j

This invention comprisesthe new and improved construction and arrangement of thisconditioning apparatus and the new and improved method-of conditioningcupola waste? gasesiwhichwill be described more fully hereinafter and the novelty of which will be particularly pointed out In the accompanying drawingrtobe taken as" apartpi this specification, there is clearlyand fully illustrated a preferred embodiment of this invention, 'inwhich drawing;

The figure shOWlltiS. a more or; less diagrammatic :view of this cupola conditioning apparatusjwhichEdiscloses the arrangementand interconnectionof the various parts and which illustrates both-,the apparatus and'method claimed.

Referring to the drawingl;iby numerals of reference, there is disclosed acupola: conditioning system comprising an iron melting cupola, 1 preferably arranged for closed charging]? The cupola 1 is suppliedwithblast air th'rough'anairjinleubustle 3zand discharges exhaust gases through an'ofidakenbustle 4., The cupola 1-is connected by a duct 5 to a vertical processing cylinder 6. The

a duct S'eXtends from the cupola off-take ,bustle;4 and enters the cylinder;6' through atangentialinlet opening]. ,The processing cylinder. .6 is hollow. and. provides a continuous cham'ber throughout its entire-verticallength and hasga closed top end 8:.and .a ftapered bottom end: 9 :fQr-ming; a collectionhbppen. .Allyportionsof jthe, ductj 5 which; do not slope downward. toward the processing cylinder fl, such as the horizontalxduct-sejction 10,; areprovidedwith a plurality of hoppers;-1l under1ying,,-their entire length. The hoppers 9 and Ila are arranged gfor discharge into refuse, disposal ducts lz and 13' which transmitrefuse to a remote disposal point, not shown,'"'undei" the" influence a 2,761,671 Patented Sept. 4, 1956 Ind. circulating means such as a highv capacity fluid or blower 14. The processing cylinder 6 is provided an air inlet bustle 15 which is supplied with air ai bl' er The bustle 15 has a plurality of large veloc ty air inlet connections 17 to the cylinder 6 and a plu r al ity-of small high-velocityair inlet jets 18 spaced ab ove theinlets 17. The cylinder 6 isalso provided with constantlyburning gas pilots 19 and 20, respectively, for ighi'tion of the gasand air mixture in the cylinder. The upgerrniddleportion of the processing cylinder 6 is providedwith a plurality of water sprays 21 for limiting the temperature .ofcombustion products in the upper portion of thechamber. The upper portion of the cylinder 6 is provided .with a heat exchanger 22 having an inlet 23 connectedtp a .high capacity blower 24. Theheat exchanger -2 .'Z has an outlet 25 connected by a duct 26 to the cupola cylinder- 30 has a tapered bottom end 33 providing a pplle ction hopper for waste foreignparticles. The cylindense isgalso provided with a plurality ofspray s 34 for separating fine dust particles from .the cupola gases before they are discharged to atmosphere.

get manhole; s ii l ith blastsv 311.24 which has been heated in passing through h' at excliahger 22 and which enters the cupola ugh' the inlethustle 3. lnthe cupola 1 the.coal or gets burnedunder the influence of the blast air to provide the t necessary heat for melting the iron charge. The combustionin the cupola, however. is never complete and,,.as,a result, a small quantity of CO is discharged with theNz from the air andthe CO2 formed in combus- -tion..;.'l he cupola exhaust gases are discharged through arr oi i take bustle 4 and generally carry with them a fairly large quantity of foreign particles fromthe cupola.

"Thev heavier foreign particles in the cupola exhaust gases will-drop out while passing throughtheduct5 to the processing cylinder 6. These heavier partieles fall into the plurality. of hoppers 11 which underlie the sections of the duct; 5.,which 0; Q S ope toward the processing cylinder 6. As the cupola exhaust gases enter the processing cylinder fi they are .given a high rotary motion by reason of their .enteringtthrough the tangential inlet 7. This high rota y 'motion of thetgases will cause the larger particles offoreign matter remainingin thegas stream to be separated therefrom by centrifugal force. The foreign particles which are so separated fall into the hopper 9 at the lowereud of the cylinder 6. The hoppers 9and 11 are arrangedto discharge into refuse disposal ducts 12 and 13 whichare supplied with high-velocityzair from a blower 14. The ducts 9 and-11 are preferably arranged to disthesegasesipa's's the large air inlets 17, they aretsupplied with a quantity of low-velocity air which is introduced byth blower' 16 through the air inlet bustle 15. The gas afiid airniixt ure isignited as it passes the constantly burning gas pilot 19. As this mixture of burninggas and air assesupward; it is supplied with further quantities of c'onibus'tion airthroughthe high-velocity air inlet jets'18.

This' arrangement of low-velocity and high-velocity air inlets is necessary to burn low-grade gases of this character in a relatively short combustion chamber and is described more fully in my co-pending application, Serial No. 287,889, filed May 15, 1952. The burning gas mixture continues upward in its movement past the second pilot burner 20 which assists in igniting any of the gas and air mixture which has not already begun to burn. As the gases pass upward beyond the middle or combustion chamber portion of the processing cylinder 6, they pass a plurality of water sprays 21 which are described more fully in my co-pending applications, Serial No. 280,759, now U. S. Patent No. 2,678,236, issued May 11, 1954, and No. 287 888. The water sprays 21 are operable to introduce water into the combustion products and limit the temperature thereof to a predetermined safe value. The combustion products resulting from the combustion of cupola gases and the air introduced through the inlets 17 and 18 continue upward past the heat exchanger 22 where a portion of their heat is given up to heat the blast air for the cupola which is supplied by the blower 24. At this point in the apparatus, the gases still carry some very fine foreign particles which were not separated in the hoppers 9 or 11. The gases, therefore, are directed outward through the outlet 27 and duct 28 to the inlet 29 of a water spray dust separator cylinder 30. The gases entering the cylinder 30 pass upward past a plurality of high-pressure, high-velocity water sprays 34 which are operable to further reduce the gas temperature and which are operable to remove the finer foreign particles therefrom. The sprays 34 are preferably a high-velocity, highpressure type sprays which are operable to break the water into extremely fine particles. In fact, it has been found that when the water spray is broken into individual particles of a size on the order of 100 microns or less in diameter, a very high degree of cleaning of the gases is possible. The gases which are then discharged from the outlet 32 have been cleaned to a high degree and have had reclaimed a substantial quantity of the waste energy therefrom. The finer foreign particles which are separated by the water sprays 34 are collected in the hopper portion 33 of the cylinder 30 where they may be removed periodically.

From the foregoing description, it is seen that there is provided herein both a novel apparatus and a novel process for the conditioning of cupola exhaust gases. In the apparatus there is disclosed a continuous single processing chamber in which foreign particles are removed and which is provided with a refuse disposal arrangement for the foreign particles so removed. The processing apparatus is also provided with means to burn the cupola gases to reclaim waste heat therefrom, means to limit the temperature of combustion products, and a heat exchange means for heating blast air for the cupola. The apparatus is also provided with a final separator for removing the finer dust particles from the cupola gases. As a process, it is seen that there is disclosed a novel method of conditioning cupola gases which includes separation of larger foreign particles, combustion of cupola gases for reclaiming heat therefrom, the limitation of temperature of combustion products, and the final separation of the finer dust particles from said gases.

While there has been described only one embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that other embodiments are possible which are the equivalent of this apparatus and which would be capable of performing the desired conditioning process without departing from the scope and intent of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An apparatus for processing gases from an. iron melting cupola, comprising a vertical cupola having an air inlet bustle and a gas off-take bustle, a vertical processing unit comprising a hollow elongated cylinder having closed top and bottom ends, said cylinder having a tapered bottom end providing a hopper for collection of the heavier particles of foreign matter carried in said gases, a tangential inlet to said cylinder at the bottom end therefor and above said hopper, a duct connecting said bustle to said tangential inlet, the tangential inflow of gas into said cylinder being operable to effect a centrifugal separation of heavy foreign matter carried therein for collection in said hopper, means for supplying air to the middle portion of said cylinder for combustion of said gases, means for igniting the gas and air mixture in said middle portion, water sprays in the upper middle portion of said cylinder for limiting the temperature of combustion products, a heat exchanger in the top portion of said cylinder positioned in the path of combustion products, an outlet from the top of said cylinder, air supply means discharging air through said heat exchanger, and a duct connected to conduct heated air from said heat exchanger to said cupola inlet bustle.

2. An apparatus for processing gases from an iron melting cupola, comprising a vertical cupola having an air inlet bustle and a gas off-take bustle, a vertical processing unit comprising a hollow elongated cylinder having closed top and bottom ends, said cylinder having a tapered bottom end providing a hopper for collection of the heavier particles of foreign matter carried in said gases, a tangential inlet to said cylinder at the bottom end thereof and above said hopper, a duct connecting said bustle to said tangential inlet, the tangential inflow of gas into said cylinder being operable to effect a centrifugal separation of heavy foreign matter carried therein for collection in said hopper, means for supplying air to the middle portion of said cylinder for combustion of said gases, means for igniting the gas and 'air mixture in said middle portion, water sprays in the upper middle portion of said cylinder for limiting the temperature of combustion products, a heat exchanger in the top'portion of said cylinder positioned in the path of combustion products, an outlet from the top of said cylinder, air supply means discharging air through said heat exchanger, a duct connected to conduct heated air from said heat exchanger to said cupola inlet bustle, and means for removing waste foreign particles from said hopper.

3. An apparatus for processing gases from an iron melting cuploa, comprising a vertical cupola having an air inlet bustle and a gas off-take bustle, a vertically processing unit comprising a hollow elongated cylinder having closed top and bottom ends, said cylinder having a tapered bottom end providing a hopper for collection of the heavier particles of foreign matter carried in said gases, a tangential inlet to said cylinder at the bottom end thereof and above said hopper, a duct connecting said bustle to'said tangential inlet, the tangential infiow of gas into said cylinder being operable to effect a centrifugal separation of heavy foreign matter carried therein for collection in said hopper, means for supplying air to the middle portion of said cylinder for combustion of said gases; said air supply means including a plurality of inlets for introduction of air at a low velocity and a plurality of high velocity air inlet jets, said jets being spaced vertically above said inlets; a constantly burning pilot for igniting the gas and air mixture in said middle portion, water sprays in the upper middle portion of said cylinder for limiting the temperature of combustion products, a heat exchanger in the top portion of said cylinder positioned in the path of combustion products, an outlet from the top of said cylinder, air supply means discharging air through said heat exchanger, a duct connected to conduct heated air from said heat exchanger to said cupola inlet bustle, a refuse disposal duct connected to the bottom of said hopper, and fluid circulating means connected to said duct and operable to evacuate said hopper.

4. An apparatus for processing gases from an iron melting cupola, comprising a vertical cupola having an air inlet bustle and a gas off-take bustle, a vertical processing unit comprising a hollow elongated cylinder having closed top and bottom ends, said cylinder having a tapered bottom end providing a hopper for collection of the heavier particles of foreign matter carried in said gases, a tangential inlet to said cylinder at the bottom end thereof and above said hopper, a duct connecting said bustle to said tangential inlet, the tangential inflow of gas into said cylinder being operable to efliect a centrifugal separation of heavy foreign matter carried therein for collection in said hopper, said duct having a plurality of tapered hoppers underlying all sections thereof which do not slope downward in the direction of gas flow, means for supplying air to the middle portion of said cylinder for combustion of said gases, means for igniting the gas and air mixture in said middle portion, water sprays in the upper middle portion of said cylinder for limiting the temperature of combustion products, a heat exchanger in the top portion of said cylinder positioned in thepath of combustion products, an outlet from the top of said cylinder, air supply means discharging air through said heat exchanger, and a duct connected to conduct heated air from said heat exchanger to said cupola inlet bustle.

5. An apparatus for processing gases from an iron melting cupola, comprising a vertical cupola having an air inlet bustle and a gas cit-take bustle, a vertical processing unit comprising a hollow elongated cylinder having closed top and bottom ends, said cylinder having a tapered bottom end providing a hopper for collection of the heavier particles of foreign matter carried in said gases, a tangential inlet to said cylinder at the bottom end thereof and above said hopper, a duct connecting said bustle to said tangential inlet, the tangential inflow of gas into said cylinder being operable to efiect a centrifugal separation of heavy foreign matter carried there in for collection in said hopper, means for supplying air to the middle portion of said cylinder for combustion of said gases, means for igniting the gas and air mixture in said middle portion, water sprays in the upper middle portion of said cylinder for limiting the temperature of combustion products, a heat exchanger in the top portion of said cylinder positioned in the path of combustion products, an outlet from the top of said cylinder, air supply means discharging air through said heat exchanger,

a duct connected to conduct heated air from said heat exchanger to said cupola inlet bustle, and means connected to said cylinder top outlet for separating the finer foreign particles from said combustion products.

6. A method of processing gases from an iron melting cupola comprising the steps of mechanically separating larger foreign particles in said gases, burning at least some of the combustible CO in said gases, passing the combustion products in heat exchange relation with blast air for the cupola, and limiting the temperature of combustion by introducing water into the combustion products prior to the passage of said combustion products into said heat exchange relation.

7. A method of processing gases from an iron melting cupola comprising the steps of mechanically separating larger foreign particles in said gases, burning at least some of the combustible CO in said gases, passing the combustion products in heat exchange relation with blast air for the cupola, limiting the temperature of'combustion by introducing Water into the cornbustionproducts prior to the passage of said combustion products into said heat exchange relation, and mechanically separating the finer foreign particles in said gases.

8. A method of processing gases from an iron melting cupola comprising the steps of centrifugally separating larger foreign particles in said gases, burning at least some of the combustible CO in said gases, passing the combustion products in heat exchange relation with blast air for the cupola, limiting the temperature of combustion by introducing water into the combustion products prior to the passage of said combustion-products into said heat exchange relation, and separating the finer foreign particles from said gases by subjecting the same to a very fine water spray.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 613,828 Storer et al. Nov. 8, 1898 1,622,082 Brassert Mar. 22, 1927 1,627,536 Vial May 3, 1927 1,872,569 Boegehold Aug. 16, 1932 2,602,027 Old July 1, 1952 

